Shortly after Trumpeter released its new Su-33 Flanker D kit, Scale Aircraft Conversions released a replacement set for the kit landing gear. The set is comprised of five parts: two main landing gear legs, the nose strut, the nose strut retraction actuator, and the scissor link for the nose gear strut.

As with Scale Aircraft’s other sets, the parts are drop in replacements for the kit parts. After removing a slight molding seam on the parts, I polished them using a wire wheel in my battery operated Dremel tool at low speed. This works very well and results in a nice uniform finish to all of the parts.

Assembly of the parts mirrors that of the kit parts, however, I discovered that I need to straighten out the scissor link as it was bent a little to one side. I suspect this occurred when the scissor link was removed from the mold as it is fairly thin at the link. Once straightened it fit perfectly into the holes on the nose strut. As with other white metal parts, super glue must be used to assemble or attach the parts.

One other area that I had to reshape slightly was the retraction strut on the right main gear leg as it was bent up a little. In 1/72 scale, the thinner struts are easily distorted as not as rigid as the plastic kit parts, however, if you are careful, they are not difficult to straighten out.

I have found that some paints adhere directly to the metal parts, while others do not, so just to be sure, I always paint the white metal parts with Tamiya white primer before applying the final color(s).

While I don’t expect to be loading up my Flanker with heavy aftermarket ordinance, my experience is that SAC’s gear is less susceptible to breaking off when a completed model is bumped inadvertently. Highly recommended.

Thanks to Scale Aircraft Conversions for the review set and to IPMS-USA for letting me review it.